Saturday, February 13, 2010

Wow - What a finish.

Was speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the Montgomeryshire Conservative Association this afternoon. Tried speaking with more 'gravitas' and 'authority' than I usually do. Was put out when Eileen told me that I came over as 'fierce'! Ah well. Back to the drawing board. Anyway, I missed most of the Wales-Scotland game. Arrived home in time to catch the last 15 minutes. And what a 15 minutes it was. Wales were ten points behind. Just six of them left when the Scottish prop, Scott Lawson lost control of his brain. Ref had just dished out a warning (long overdue according to the radio commentary) and the idiot commits a full-on blatant foul, right under the ref's nose, in no-danger land. Straight forward - into the bin. Wales went rampant, and scored under the posts. Game on.

And then the whole Scottish team lost control of their brain. I don't really blame Phil Godman, who cynically tripped Lee Byrne, who was on his way to the line for a winning touch down, earning himself a one way ticket to the bin to join his mate. It was a 'match saving' foul. Instead of seven points, Wales settled for the draw that three points gave them. Then we had a bit of controversy. The Scots were required by the ref to kick off, despite the eighty minutes being up. I thought that this was the ref's revenge for the sheer blatancy of the trip, which would otherwise have passed completely unpunished. But why, oh why didn't the Scots kick it straight into touch for a draw? But they didn't - and Wales won. An unbelievable finish. A Scottish nightmare.

Watched the whole France-Ireland game. Great game, even if a few too many Irish errors. The French were very impressive. Powerful and organised. They'll take some beating. Must admit I thought the first Irish yellow card was just about deserved. It would have been something of a talking point until Flannery decided to resort to GBH on the rugby field. What was the ref thinking about. He should have been sent for an early bath. Looks like the England-France game is going to be the decider. Won't be many prisoners taken in that game. Despite the much better rugby, it will not last in the memory as long as the extraordinary finish at the Millennium Stadium.